April 2004 Archives
I know everyone is frazzled because of the end of the year so I thought a little laugh would help. If you go to my blog and click on some of the links on one of my entries you'll enjoy yourself. Its a fun site that I found enjoy! Everyone GOOD LUCK!
The Chronicle: 4/30/2004: A Dangerous Surplus of Sons?
In a new book, Bare Branches: Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population (MIT Press), Valerie M. Hudson and Andrea M. den Boer warn that the spread of sex selection is giving rise to a generation of restless young men who will not find mates. History, biology, and sociology all suggest that these "surplus males" will generate high levels of crime and social disorder, the authors say. Even worse, they continue, is the possibility that the governments of India and China will build up huge armies in order to provide a safety valve for the young men's aggressive energies.
We've been talking about Gibson's Pattern Recognition in my American Lit class...
BBC - Films - High Noon - 23rd April 2004Weir Recognition
Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World director Peter Weir will next helm Pattern Recognition, a thriller about a marketing expert whose life is endangered when she tries to track down strange video footage on the web. Based on a novel by Neuromancer author William Gibson, it will be scripted by Weir and Spy Game scribe David Arata...
My EL150 students are reading the play "Wit," about an English professor dying of ovarian cancer. (The artwork for which substitutes a semicolon for the "i", since a semicolon plays an important part in the play...).
CNN.com - Airport guard rejects cancer patient over ID photo - Apr 22, 2004Airport security screeners refused to let a cancer patient board a flight home to Denver because they said she no longer resembled her identification photos.
Ok...So we all have this Blog Portfolio to do! I do not post much here- I;m not really the person that got all into it, but anyways, I do have a lot of strong opinions on situations. This sunject I found very intersting and I want to use it as one of my blogs with the comments attached. I think that everyone can have a good discussion on this topic and I PROMISE I will comment on everyon's blog that commented on mine : ) Thanks....
Lately I have not had much to say on this weblog because it seems very few things get me emotional enough to express my feelings to everyone who wants to know. What got me to write this time is a story from the Philadelphia Daily News about a little girl, Destiny Wright, that was strangled, raped, and killed by a twenty year old man.
Daniel Rubino is an established entertainment reporter, whose article on computer game researchers I recently blogged. We started a friendly conversation in the comments, and I asked, him if he had advice for students who might want to become an entertainment reporter. What he says should sound very familiar to anyone who took my "Practice of Journalism" course last year:
One learns to write by writing. I have been on deadline for a quarter century. Ground yourself in the toughest sort of reporting first. I started as a police reporter, and worked a career before moving to entertainment. Way back, in Norfolk, Virginia in the beginning of the 1980s, I covered police, fire and federal courts, and no one wanted to cover a Weather Report show. I volunteered, and quickly added The Pretenders, B52, U2, the Romantics, Stranglers, Springsteen etc.. Then continued on the straight and narrow, reporting on Naval supply thefts, serious stuff, moving to Louisville, where I just did investigative reporting, and then to Philly. I chose entertainment this fall after finishing three years in Berlin, as the European Bureau chief for Knight Ridder, which owns the Inquirer and others. This was safer than dodging bullets in the Balkans and Israel, which I did a lot. So my new beat is the business of entertainment, and I cover what I have missed in the past three years: how dessert in America became the main course. I am drawn to marketing, new media and music. I do a couple stories a week, typically, and get to choose about half my assignments - stuff like spam poetry, the politics of the iPod, downloading ethics, and now, edifying gaming. My advice, to recap is read and write. Then read some more, and talk it over with a friend. Then write like it keeps you from sinking.
Just a suggestion...
Since all of us in EL150 have blogging portfolios to do, and I realize that there is some pressure to have comments and whatnot, I suggest some sort of a blog rally to make sure we get decent feedback.
Rally:
I really think we can make it work, if we all work together--as corny as that may be... *shrug* I know that I'll be rallying... let's jump on the bandwagon.
Blogs were down for about 20 hours. Sorry for the inconvenience.
That was not the planned server move -- it was an unrelated problem with the internet service provider.
Students in EL 267 can have until Friday to complete their blog portfolios. Everyone else should still be on schedule.
Wanderlust: Bloggers Anonymous
Every moment of every hour is spent thinking about crafting my next post. I've started noticing every little detail (which makes living at home extremely annoying) about people around me so I can try and write slightly better than yesterday. It's blossomed into a passion that consumes every thought, every action, and every moment of mine. I suffer from Blogging Withdrawl if I don't check in with this world every hour on the hour.
For those of you who were worried that the New Seton Hill will leave behind its excellent reputation as an arts school...
PA Governor Rendell Presents $5 Million For New Seton Hill University Center
PA Governor Edward G. Rendell
presented a $5 million check to Seton Hill University President JoAnne Boyle
for the creation of the Seton Hill University Center during a visit to
Greensburg today. The funding was provided through the Redevelopment
Assistance Capital Program (RACP), which helps rejuvenate Pennsylvania's
downtown areas.
I got word of this contest via e-mail today; it's located in England, but I bet it's open to US submissions, as well.
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 09:58:51 EDT
From: fmodderno@aol.com
Subject: COMPETITION: Can you write about new media? Deadline 30th April
In a message dated 4/16/2004 9:14:43 AM Eastern Standard Time,
trace@ntu.ac.uk writes:
> There are only two weeks left to submit your entry to trAce's New Media
> Article Writing Competition before the deadline on 30th April.
>
> Prize-winners will receive cash prizes and will also be published on the
> trAce website which gets over 30,000 hits a day and is visited by writers,
> educators, journalists and researchers from over a hundred countries.
>
> This competition is open to all and is organised in conjunction with the
> Writers for the Future, a NESTA funded project which aims to provoke discussion and raise awareness of new media writing.
>
> See the website for full details:
> http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writersforthefuture/news/news5.htm>
> the trAce Online Writing Centre
> trace@ntu.ac.uk
> http://trace.ntu.ac.uk
> The Nottingham Trent University
> Clifton, Nottingham NG11 8NS, UK
> Tel: + 44 (0) 115 848 6360
> Fax: + 44 (0) 115 848 6364
The SHU Soundoff was amazing!! The acts showcased last night really showed the amount of talent that students on"the hill " really possess. For those of you who didnt attend you really missed a treat. I want to give a very very special congratulations to the winner...
Greetings Dr. Jerz's EL 150 class!
There will be a Setonian proofreading session on Tuesday (4/20) in the Setonian office from 4:15pm until 5:15pm.
Also, you can pick up a copy of the Setonian to proofread on Friday (4/23) at 6pm at the Setonian office.
Thanks!
Next Week is National Library Week!
In light of this poetry will be spouting about all over campus. Dont be afraid of the Shakesparean sonnets that my inhabit your earlobes, instead join in!
Next Friday April 23, 2004 an Open Mic Nite will be held in Lowe Dining Hall at 8:00
*If you have a special poem you want to perform come on down!
*If you have good song you've been writing come on down!
*If you think your comical and enjoy making others laugh come on down!
*If you dont possess any of these talent come on down anyway for the free drinks and snacks.
Admission is $1. All Proceeds Benefit the NAACP.
-Sign ups in the office of Activities--Hope to see you there.
Maybe its because my Mondays and Fridays lately have resembled the Power Puff Girls with the intensity of girl power, but i was amazed at the author of the poem I selected. . . . (yes I know traditionally you only need 3 dots, however, i'm goin above and beyond)
At the risk of sounding like a airheaded 13 year old on her way out of the Gap, I thought the Poetry Slam was totally awesome.
My "American Lit" students are preparing for the "All-American Poetry Cover Slam" tonight. Students have chosen about 4-5 minutes worth of poetry, written by an American from 1915-present (the time period covered by the class). I have asked them to research the poem, mark up a copy to help them with pronunciation, pauses, breaths, etc. (so they don't robotically pause at the end of each line, for instance) and recite their chosen work during our evening class.
I just got this message from Seton Hill's library:
I wanted to let you know that we will be using poetry to celebrate National Library Week, April 18-24. We will have poetry readings in the library lounge during all library hours. It will be open and unstructured, with people coming and going as they please. They can read (aloud or silently) any poetry they want--their own or others', unheralded or published, sonnets, limericks, rap, etc. They may also turn in poetry to be posted.We will have various poetry displays, and we are going to try some experiments with poetry. There will also be a poetry prize drawing on Saturday, April 24.
We welcome your participation. Please tell your classes about it, too.
Thanks,
MarcyMarcia Pietrala
Reference and Public Services
Reeves Memorial Library
Seton Hill University
BBC NEWS | UK | Drivers warned against loud music
A Canadian study found people took up to 20% longer to perform physical and mental tasks to loud music.
Wired News: Onion Taken Seriously, Film at 11
There was a problem with the story. Rather than do his own original reporting, Evening News writer Huang Ke had cribbed, nearly word for word, his text from an American publication. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Ke hadn't bothered to vet the source he had plagiarized: The Onion.
Just a reminder... EL 150 students have a peer-review exercise due on Thursday. We went over the details in class before break (thank you, the few of you who were actually there).
EL 150: Intro to Literary Study (Dennis G. Jerz -- Seton Hill University)
I just got this message from Dean Gawelek:
Governor Ed Rendall will be visiting Greensburg on Saturday, April 17th. He will be making an important announcement at approximately 12:30 at P-lot (parking lot in front of the train station). It would great if you could come to hear the announcement. Wearing Seton Hill shirts, jackets or hats would also be a plus.
I have two thoughts... something related to Seton Hill's downtown expansion, or something related to the Greensburg-Pittsburgh maglev train. My thought is that the governor probably wouldn't bother coming out if this were just regarding the expansion of Seton Hill... and if this were a Seton Hill event, Dr. Gawelek wouldn't suggest that we wear Seton Hill garb.
My wife scheduled an outing to the zoo this Saturday, so I doub t I'll be able to make it to this event.
Charlie Lowe, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the "Conference on College Composition and Communication" a few weeks, ago, posted a set of reflections on our blogging experiment here at Seton Hill University.
Forced Blogging: Building Community | cyberdashI feel like I've been remiss in not getting to blogging about the sessions I attended at 4C's. For instance, Dennis Jerz's “Forced Blogging: Students’ Emotional Investment in Their Academic Weblogs” (25 March). Dennis gave us some great views of student investment in their blog when considered in light of voluntary or forced (assigned) blogging. One of the students at Seton Hill, Anthony, had this to say during a student online discussion about forced blogging...:
The Onion | The Onion | Yahoo Launches Soul-Search Engine
"Capable of navigating the billions of thoughts, experiences, and emotions that make up the human psyche, the new Yahoo soul-search engine helps users find what's deep inside them quickly and easily," Yahoo CEO Terry Semel said. "All those long, difficult nights of pondering your place in this world are a thing of the past."
For anyone concerned about the future of Seton Hill as an instution known for its arts programs, here's a local newspaper article about a student who won a Forbes scholarship to study musical theater, and another student coming for the education program. I hope all incoming students feel welcome at Seton Hill. (If any of you have friends or relatives who've decided to come here, please feel free to use this space to welcome them.)
Fulton County NewsEven though he also previously applied to Point Park University in Pittsburgh, the University of Arts in Philadelphia and New York University, Knepper will be majoring in musical theatre while at Seton Hill. With a minor in literature education, Knepper hopes his education and talent will someday land him a position on Broadway as a stage actor.
Joining Knepper at Seton Hill this fall will be 18-year-old Kayla Davies, the daughter of Dave and Lisa Davies of Hustontown. Davies, who has the distinction of holding the position of president of the band, chorus, FBLA and FCCLA as well as holding the title of yearbook editor, will be majoring in family and consumer-science education.
One of the librarians has send me an e-mail observing that some students are using their blogs to complain about the Seton Hill library. I'm perfectly happy with letting people vent, but here's an opportunity for me to talk about library research and the function of librarians.
As I've said many times, reference librarians love helping people -- for most of them, it's why they became librarians in the first place. So, to quote from my own handout, "Academic Journals -- Finding Them Online"
To find the best academic sources for your paper...Psychologists have learned that, even when research proves that people work better and faster when they ask for help rather than muddle around on their own, people still have the tendency to believe they will only waste time if they stop what they are doing and ask for help. In computer interface design, this is called the "Active User Paradox." Try to recognize and work against this tendency, and you'll spend less time sitting in front of your computer pulling out your hair, and more time reading good sources for your paper.You'll save yourself time and aggravation, and you will get better results.
- Close this web page.
- Walk to the library.
- Talk to a reference librarian.
When the text gets thick, the scroll bar on the right of the screen is too tempting to refuse; the mouse wheel begs to be flung.
Remember that potential blog outage I mentioned? Looks like it's on the way. I don't know exactly when (that depends on when the old webmaster and new webmaster can fit the transfer into their schedule) but they're preparing now.
To recap: The machine on which all our blogs lives is moving from Chicago to Minneapolis, which is about a six or seven hour drive. I'm not sure exactly when that's going to happen, but while the machine is in transit, when anybody tries to visit our blogs. We won't be able to post or do anything else, either.
As I type this, I am backing up the contents of the archive, and I plan to back up the contents once a day from now until the move is done. I'll try to do the backup in the morning, thus preserving whatever blogging has been done the night before. You might want to create a local copy as well, by clicking "Import/Export" > and scroll down to the section on "Exporting Entries". (You'll get a screen full of text... save it to a word processor file on your diskette... it'll be a pain to read it all back in, but if disaster strikes you'd rather have a record of all your hard work, right?)
